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Problems with Secure File Deletion

I’ve written extensively about how to delete files securely on Windows and Linux, including a tutorial on how to integrate secure-deletion tools into Nautilus, and an answer to the question of whether journaled filesystems disrupt secure deletion tools. Now I’d like to cover one last topic, which is the various items you need to take [...]

Get a Dynamic Interplanetary Background with Xplanet

This tutorial will show you how to setup a cool, dynamic wallpaper for your computer based upon XPlanet. The image to left is the final result of this how-to; notice the cloud map and the daylight, which are both periodically updated to match real-time cloud data and sunlight. You can chose to do the same [...]

How to Schedule Tasks with Gnome-Scheduler

If you’ve used Linux for a while you’ve probably learned about cron, which is the system service responsible for executing scheduled tasks. Cron runs in the background, and helps keep your computer running. At scheduled times, it launches programs to rotate log files, check for software updates, and perform other housekeeping jobs. You can also [...]

How to Monitor Network Traffic in Linux

I recently covered three utilities you can use to monitor your system resources in Linux. One of those programs, iftop gives you information about the network traffic of your machine. In this article I’ll show the in-depth usage of iftop, as well as another program called nethogs that was recommended by a reader. With these [...]

Three Apps For Monitoring Performance In Linux

Most Linux users are familiar with the top command. Top shows you a list of processes on your system and provides a ton of useful information such as their CPU usage and owner. Unfortunately, this isn’t always enough data and many people don’t know where to turn next. This article covers three performance monitoring applications [...]

Adding a Secure Delete Option to Nautilus File Manager in Linux

I’ve previously written about how to securely and permanently delete files in Linux and Windows. The programs I mentioned in those tutorials were all command-line baed, but this tutorial will show you how to add a secure-delete option to the contextual menu in Ubuntu and Fedora Linux. Install the Nautilus Actions Configuration utility First, install [...]

Find Which Package owns a File in Linux

Sometimes it is necessary to find out which package is responsible for a particular file on a Linux machine. This article explains how to identify the package that owns a file on Ubuntu or Fedora Linux (it applies to any distribution using deb or RPM, so it will also work in Debian, RedHat, etc…) Deb-based [...]

Identifying and Resolving IP Address Conflicts with Linux

One of the most frustrating problems a network administrator can come across is an IP address conflict, when two or more machines on a network try to use the same IP. The result is typically that some packets on the network go to one machine, and some packets go to the other – leading to [...]

Sharing a Keyboard and Mouse Between Systems with Synergy

Many power users have multiple computers setup in their office or on their desks, which typically results in either multiple keyboards, mice, and monitors, or the use of a KVM switch to change between each machine individually. There are downsides to both of these solutions; multiple keyboards take up lots of space and can be [...]

How to disable command-not-found in Ubuntu

If you make a typo on the command line in Ubuntu, or if you type the name of a command that doesn’t exist, the system will automatically provide you with a list of commands that are similar to what you entered; or, if the command exists but the package it belongs to is not installed, [...]